Lucila
Feminine · “Light”
Lucila is the Spanish form of the Roman Lucilla, a diminutive of Lucia, which is a diminutive of light. It is one of the plainest good names Spanish has, and it belongs to the poet who won Latin America its first Nobel Prize.
How old is the name Lucila?
Lucila first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Lucila alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 2,000 people named Lucila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lucila most popular?
Lucila peaked in 1934, reaching #1344 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 3,894 places below that high. See the whole 1934 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Lucius to Lucila
The story of Lucila
Lucilla was a Roman name and belonged to the daughter of Marcus Aurelius, who was exiled and killed by her brother Commodus. Christian martyrs named Lucilla put it into the saints' calendar, and Spanish took it as Lucila. Its best-known bearer was born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga in the Elqui valley of Chile in 1889; she published under the name Gabriela Mistral and in 1945 became the first Latin American writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. American records show Lucila with Hispanic families through the twentieth century and a peak in the 1930s, and it has run at a low level since.
Meaning
Light
From Latin Lucilla, a diminutive of Lucia, itself the feminine of Lucius, from lux, light. The reading is settled through the chain. Spanish spells it with a single l, Lucila; Italian and Latin keep the double, Lucilla. There is no difference in meaning.
How the name formed
- Lucius
- Lucia
- Lucilla
- Lucila
Related forms: Lucila · Lucilla · Lucilla · Lucila · Lucile
Pronouncing Lucila
loo-SEE-lah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Castilian Spanish gives the c a th sound, loo-THEE-la; Latin American Spanish and English both use s.
Nicknames for Lucila
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 198738 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1344reached in 1934
- Change vs 2023
- +9.1%24 in 2025, from 22
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Lucila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lucila in Spanish — same name
- Lucilla in Italian — spelling variant
- Lucilla in Latin — related form
- Lucila in Portuguese — same name
- Lucile in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Lucilas among us
people named Lucila are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Lucila
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lucila
- #5238
- Lucila on the 2025 chart
- #925
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lucila went to 24 girls in 2025, but Lucilla is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 35, which makes it the 925th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,313 places above the chart.
- Lucila24
- Lucilla11
About 1 girl in 45,922 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 66,969 for Lucila itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Anise test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lucila's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Anise climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Anise's path sketches the road Lucila is walking now.
Lucila sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Lucila beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lucila in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and among the pleasantest available.
- Lucy and Lu are both instantly usable English-facing forms.
- It is spelled the same in Spanish and Portuguese.
- Lucila, Lucilla and Lucille are three spellings that will be written for each other.
- Lucille is far better known in America and will be assumed.
- Castilian and Latin American Spanish say the middle consonant differently.
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What they receive
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Lucila
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lucilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,000 people named Lucila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lucila?
- Lucila is the most-used spelling in US records — 24 of the 35 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Lucilla.
- How popular is the name Lucila in 2025?
- Lucila ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lucila?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Lucila — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lucila with classmates?
- Lucila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lucila
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lucila? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lucila and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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